Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

QEMU VS CodeWeavers CrossOver

Compare QEMU VS CodeWeavers CrossOver and see what are their differences

QEMU logo QEMU

QEMU (short for "Quick EMUlator") is a free and open-source hosted hypervisor that...

CodeWeavers CrossOver logo CodeWeavers CrossOver

Don't buy a Windows license, don't reboot and don't use a Virtual Machine. Try a free trial of CrossOver to run your Windows software on Mac, Linux and Chrome OS.
  • QEMU Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-14
  • CodeWeavers CrossOver Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-09

QEMU features and specs

  • Open Source
    QEMU is completely open-source, meaning it is free to use and its source code is available for modification and improvement by the community.
  • Platform Support
    QEMU supports a wide range of architectures and platforms, allowing users to emulate systems from x86 to ARM and beyond.
  • Performance
    When used with KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine), QEMU offers near-native performance for virtual machines on x86 hardware.
  • Flexibility
    QEMU can be used for a variety of tasks, such as running virtual machines, debugging, or even virtualization for embedded systems.
  • Integration
    QEMU integrates well with other systems and tools, making it a versatile component in large, complex setups (e.g., OpenStack).

Possible disadvantages of QEMU

  • Complexity
    The vast array of features and configuration options can make QEMU overwhelming and difficult to set up for beginners.
  • Performance Overhead
    Without the use of KVM or other hardware acceleration, QEMU's performance can be significantly slower compared to other hypervisors.
  • Limited GUI
    QEMU primarily operates via command-line interface, which might not be user-friendly for individuals who prefer graphical user interfaces.
  • Sparse Documentation
    While improving, some parts of QEMU's documentation remain sparse or difficult to understand, which can pose challenges during advanced configurations or troubleshooting.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running multiple instances of QEMU can be resource-intensive on the host system, which may affect overall performance.

CodeWeavers CrossOver features and specs

  • Compatibility
    CrossOver enables users to run many Windows applications on macOS, Linux, and Chrome OS without requiring a Windows license or virtual machine.
  • Performance
    Applications generally run faster and consume fewer resources as compared to running them in a virtual machine because CrossOver eliminates the overhead associated with a full Windows OS.
  • Ease of Use
    The interface is user-friendly, allowing even non-technical users to install and run Windows applications with relative ease.
  • Cost
    CrossOver is generally less expensive than purchasing a Windows license and a virtual machine software, offering a cost-effective solution for running Windows applications.
  • Official Support
    CrossOver provides official technical support and frequent updates, which can be an advantage over community-supported tools like Wine.
  • Integration
    Windows applications run more seamlessly within your native operating system environment, making them appear like native applications.

Possible disadvantages of CodeWeavers CrossOver

  • Limited Compatibility
    While CrossOver supports many Windows applications, it does not support all of them. Some applications may not run perfectly or may have performance issues.
  • Subscription Model
    CrossOver operates on a subscription model, which might be a con for users looking for a one-time purchase option.
  • Dependency on Wine
    CrossOver is based on Wine, an open-source project, meaning your experience is partially dependent on the progress and limitations of the Wine project.
  • Performance Overhead
    Although less resource-intensive than virtual machines, there's still some performance overhead associated with translating Windows API calls to the host OS.
  • Initial Setup
    While easier than some alternatives, initial setup and configuration can still be complex for users unfamiliar with compatibility layers or Windows applications.
  • Licensing Restrictions
    Certain commercial or enterprise licenses may have restrictions or limitations that can complicate using CrossOver in a business environment.

QEMU videos

What is QEMU?

More videos:

  • Review - Creating Virtual Machines in QEMU | Virt-manager | KVM
  • Review - Community Code Review & QEMU

CodeWeavers CrossOver videos

Crisis on Infinite Earths: Crossover Review

More videos:

  • Review - Top 10 New Crossover Cars with Updated Looks, Prices and Specifications in 2019
  • Review - 2019 Compact Crossover Challenge | MotorWeek Comparison Test

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to QEMU and CodeWeavers CrossOver)
Cloud Computing
72 72%
28% 28
Group Chat & Notifications
Virtualization
100 100%
0% 0
Virtual Machine Management

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare QEMU and CodeWeavers CrossOver

QEMU Reviews

15 Lutris Alternatives
QEMU is a piece of open-source software for simulating hardware. It lets users of one operating system (OS) use apps made for another. The virtualization software could then be put on these host operating systems. It enables computers with one OS to use software made for a different OS. With the help of dynamic translation, users can do well in what they do. This software is...
Best Alternatives of VirtualBox for Windows
Short for Quick Emulator, QEMU is another free and open source virtualization solution for a variety of operating systems. While it is immensely powerful, it is also one of the least user friendly out there. QEMU offers a host of advanced capabilities and features that others of the same genre fall short of, including a wide variety of architectures in place of the...
10 Best VMware Alternatives and Similar Software
QEMU also allows users to run applications from other computers from within their operating system. QEMU’s great performance is ensured via a dynamic translation.
12 Best FREE Virtual Machine (VM) Software in 2020
QEMU is another popular emulator and virtualization machine, which is a short form of Quick Emulator. This system is written in C language.
Source: www.guru99.com
7 VirtualBox Alternatives You Can Consider
QEMU stands for “quick emulator” which is a highly capable open source and free virtualization software. It has support for Windows, Linux, and macOS as a guest and can also run on all three host platforms. Installing it is comparatively easier but gets a bit complicated while using it. While it doesn’t need a high configuration PC to run. To run your guest OS on the virtual...

CodeWeavers CrossOver Reviews

15 Lutris Alternatives
CrossOver is a compatibility layer for Windows that lets the program run natively on Linux, macOS, and Chrome OS, among others. This free and open-source program has many useful features and functions that make it easy to link your Windows programs together. The business edition is excellent for large organizations because it has better support and more powerful features....

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, QEMU should be more popular than CodeWeavers CrossOver. It has been mentiond 3 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

QEMU mentions (3)

  • Podman and production use
    Qemu.org, wiki.qemu.org, patchew.org, kvm-forum.qemu.org are all Podman containers on the same machine (running CentOS Stream 9) with an nginx front-end. Nginx and certbot are the only two things that run outside containers. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • From WampServer, to Vagrant, to QEMU
    As someone who enjoys playing video games, and a recent convert to Linux, I was well aware of the derth of support for games. I was also aware of some of the solutions, one of those being GPU passthrough to this thing called QEMU. QEMU is a fast and lightweight machine emulator and virtualizer. This was of course something that interested me, so I went about exploring QEMU and playing with it. When I first started... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Premium fonts on Linux
    Install the windows-version using https://WineHQ.org or put in an a VM, like https://qemu.org/. Source: almost 3 years ago

CodeWeavers CrossOver mentions (1)

  • Anyone try V Rising on Parallels or Crossover?
    Here you go https://codeweavers.com/crossover. Source: almost 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing QEMU and CodeWeavers CrossOver, you can also consider the following products

VirtualBox - VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as...

Wine - Open Source Software for running Windows applications on other operating systems.

VMware Workstation - VMware Workstation is a multiple operating system handler to easily evaluate the any other type of new operating systems.

PlayOnLinux - PlayOnLinux will allow you to play your favorite games on Linux easily

Proxmox VE - Proxmox is an open-source server virtualization management solution that offers the ability to manage virtual server technology with the Linux OpenVZ and KVM technology.

WineBottler - WineBottler is an App to manage and wrap your Windows apps into convenient OS X apps.